School vandalism repairs cost taxpayers £5m, new figures show

Almost £5 million spent on repairing vandalism to Scottish schools, new data has revealed.

A freedom of information request by the Scottish Conservatives has revealed that a total of £4,961,190 has been spent on repairs to primary, secondary and special schools in the past five years.

In the last full academic year more than £1.16million was spent on vandalism repairs, and so far this year over £600,000 has been spent.

The figures comprise of data from 22 of Scotland’s 32 local authorities.

Scottish Conservative shadow education secretary Stephen Kerr MSP said “The staggering cost of vandalism is further evidence of the SNP’s inexcusable indifference to the state of Scotland’s schools.”

“It’s disgraceful that already scarce resources are having to be spent on repairing damage to schools caused by mindless vandals.

""These louts should be ashamed of themselves - but the need for such expensive repairs poses the question as to why the SNP Government have not ensured our schools are properly safeguarded and protected in the first place.

"We need effective CCTV systems to act as both a deterrent and a means of identifying and punishing offenders."

'Unfair'

Firpark primary school in Motherwell was targeted by vandals last year when they burnt down the cabin in the school’s outdoor learning centre as well as its replacement within 10 days.

Parent council chair Fiona Graham said “local authorities should be able to protect school establishments and campuses.”

“It came as a complete shock to the parents, the members of staff, and the wider community that someone had targeted not just a school, but an additional support needs school at that.”

“We don’t see why parent councils should continuously having to be spending money to enhance our children’s learning and development if we’re not going to be met half-way by an authority better protecting our investments.”

“Frankly, it just seems unfair that any school should be using their budget for vandalism.”

'Ridiculous name calling'

A Spokesperson for Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth said she is “deeply concerned that the Conservative spokesperson for Education has described Scottish school pupils as ‘louts’. We certainly do not need CCTV in our schools watching our children, as the Conservatives appear to be implying.

“The Education Secretary wants to work with Scotland’s children and young people - she will leave the ridiculous name calling to the Conservatives, whose behaviour in this press release alone evidences why they should be nowhere near making decisions on Scottish education.”

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